Air filtration devices are typically used in environments where clean air having low particulate matter or low gaseous contaminate material is required. For example, air filtration systems are used in operating rooms of hospitals, in hospital rooms where burn patients are treated, in clean rooms such as semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and in any other environment where small particles, certain gaseous materials, or certain contaminants in the surrounding air can be hazardous to a person's health or disrupt the work being performed or damage the products.
Air filtration systems typically include a fan unit that receives air from an air input and directs the air with a desired flow rate to a filter unit. The filter unit removes the particulate matter and/or gaseous contaminant material from the air. Air filtration systems may also include a diffuser positioned downstream of the filter that can change flow characteristics of the air. A diffuser can be designed to provide unidirectional flow, multidirectional flow, laminar flow, or turbulent flow.
Many air filtration systems are of room air cleaner type. They are designed to clean air in an entire room or space and can not direct air to a small desired area. The air flow coming out of a typical room air cleaner is turbulent. Such units cannot provide unidirectional air flow to a specific zone to create a localized clean environment.
Many other air filtration systems are ceiling mounted or attached to a work surface. Accordingly, the clean air is directed to a desirable location depending on the fixed position and orientation of the air filtration system. For example, a ceiling mounted air filtration system will typically direct the air flow downward. In another example, a work bench can include an air filtration system mounted above the work surface thereof so that clean air is directed onto the work surface. Such air filtration systems are not portable and can only be used in the environment and for the application for which they are designed. Furthermore, most of such air filtration systems do not have diffusers for providing laminar or unidirectional clean air flow to a localized zone without containment of the airflow. For those systems that have diffusers, the diffuser can not be easily removed and replaced with another diffuser. Such removal may be necessary for replacing or cleaning the diffuser, or replacing the filter, or modifying the flow characteristics.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an air filtration system with a removable diffuser that is portable, can be reoriented to provide unidirectional clean air to a desired zone, and has a diffuser material that can be easily replaced or cleaned.